Laid slick with the
stink of liquor-licked stomachs,
sallow streets
lie steeped in stony sepia,
Belly-up to
blazing bursts: fluorescent
cigarettes prick
yellow the sickly night sky.
Lank against my last
dregs of architecture, I
shuck bright
eyes till aged whites fill my husk.
As the carnal
colonies crawl my slim stems, I
steep my buds in
fairy dust, lace my leaves with snow.
Dark stark
pupils, gutted and stuffed, seek skyward
stars where lewd
gas lanterns sputter and burn.
--Maggie Cheung
For CCR199Y1: Reading and Writing Poetry, first year seminar course at the University of Toronto.
